Machinery for dovetailing wood



N. JENKINS. 7 Machinery for Dovetailing W00d,'St0ne,'&- c.

PatenQted Feb. 1,1881.

MPETERS, FHOTO-UTMOGRAPHER. WASHINGYOIL, I v C UNITED, STATES.

PATENT Citron.

NICHOLAS JENKINS, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

MAC HINERY FO R DOVETAILING WOOD, STONE, 86G.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 237,283, dated February1, 1881.

Application filed January 11, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NIoHoLAs JENKINS, of the city and county of NewHaven, in the State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements Relating to Machinery for Dovetailing or Groovin g Piecesor Slabs of Wood, Stone, or other Analogous Material; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof.

By my invention I am able to make open dovetails or blind dovetails notonly for square corners, but for various other angles, for triangular,hexagonal, or octagonal forms.

The following is a description of what 1 consider the best means ofcarrying out the invention.

The accompanying drawings form part of this specification.

Figure 1 shows an end View, and Fig. 2 a front view, of apparatusconstructed according to my invention.

In each of the views similar letters of reference are employed toindicate a corresponding part wherever they occur.

I employ a cutter of any suitable character which will make a dovetailedgroove of proper size. My apparatus holds and presents the material, andgages how much it shall be fed along so as to have the several dovetailcuts at a uniform distance apart. I can make not only square corners,but various obtuse, and even acute, angles.

V V are uprights, bolted to the under side of the horizontal table V,and supporting such table with capability of sliding freely on guides Vcarried by a suitable table or support, A The horizontal table V isprovided with a clamping-bar, V above, and mechanism, as indicated,adapted to firmly hold down a piece or slab of material thereon andallow the edge of the piece or s lab which is placed flush with the edgeof the table to be excavated by the dovetailing-cutter o above.

V is a notched bar extending across the machine in the right position toreceive a pawl, V which is mounted on the cross-traversin g carriage Eof the cutting'machine, '(not represented,) and is adapted to engage insuccession withthe several teeth in the bar V which is carried by themain frame of the cutting machinery.

A proper gage is employed to determine the horizontal distance to whichthe table V and parts connected therewith may he moved, and consequentlythe distance to which the several grooves may be excavated. I

In operation, the cutter is lowered and, the table V is traversedforward, and a dovetail groove excavated at the proper distance apart inthe end of the wood. Then the table V is run back so that the materialis removed from the cutter, and the carriage E, with its severalconnections, including the cutter, 'is moved horizontally until the pawlV engages in the next notch, or any other desired notch. By this meansthe distance apart of the dovetail grooves is gaged. Then the table V isfed forward again, and the second dovetail groove excavated, and theoperation repeated.

V is aleaf hingedto the table V, as shown, and capable of being set andfirmly held at various inclinations, as required.

V is a broad clamping-piece supported on a cross shaft, V, and adaptedto strongly clamp a piece of material on this inclined table or leaf VThis leaf V is for ordinary square dovetailin g, adjusted in an exactlyvertical position. The material is held therein just high enough toallow, its upper end to be scored across by the dovetailing-cutter. Thishinged leaf and its clamp make it practicable to present another boardand cause it to be treated at the same time with the one firstdescribed. The same shifting of the carriage E and its connections bythe raising of the pawl V produces the proper dovetailing out, not onlyin the first piece of material, as described, but also in the other,which is to match with it.

The table V (and part V connected therewith) is moved backward andforward, when ,desired, by means of ahandle-lever, *u, affixed on theend of arock-shaft,o,carriedin'bearings '0 supported by plate '0 carriedby the table A or they may be formed on the table A itself. To therock-shaft 'v are attached arms 1: '12, which, by links a o andpin-joints o", are connected to a cross-bar, 41 from the standards oruprights V. It will thus be seen that by moving the handle 2: to therightor left the table will be correspondingly traversed.

When wood or other material is to be dovetailed together at the anglerequired for hexagonal, octagonal, or other work requiring anglesdiffering from a right angle, the table V is adjusted at the properinclination, so that the score is produced across the wood by thedovetailing-cutter, not at a right angle with its plane, but at therequired oblique angle. After the whole is completed, care being takenthat the dovetailing grooves are as great or a little greater than thelands between, the two pieces of Wood are taken from the machine, and onproperly inverting one and applying them together, either with orwithout glue, shellac, or the like, the dovetailing joints may be drivenforcibly together and made complete, and the boards will stand correctlyat the required angle.

Modifications of this device may be made within wide limits by anycompetent mechanic.

By changing the form of the cutters various other forms of grooves orcuts may be formed in pieces or slabs of wood or other material.

I claim as my invention- 1. The dovetailing-cutter 11*, in combinationwith the clamps V as herein specified.

2. The dovetailing-cutter v clamps V and notched bar V in combinationwith each other and with the pawl V for gaging the spaces between thecuts, as herein specified.

3. The hinged leaf or table V with its clamp V for holding materialfirmly thereon, in combination with means for adjusting its inclination,and with a cutter, v and clamp V ,for holding the counter-piece, alladapted for joint operation, as and for the purposes herein specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 22d day of June,1878, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

NICHOLAS JENKINS.

Witnesses:

W. OoLBoRNE BROOKES, (bus. 0. STETSON.

